This form of theory building entails asking whether the observation is
a particular case of a more general factor, or how the observation fits into a
pattern or a story. For example, Durkheim observed that the suicide rate
was higher among Protestants than Catholics. But is religious affiliation a
particular case of something more general? Of what more general
phenomenon might it be an indicator? Are there other observations that
shed light on this? He also observed that men were more suicidal than
women, urban dwellers more than rural dwellers and the socially mobile
more than the socially stable.